Debt Dumpers - 2017

[LisaSunshine]

Does anyone have any experience with the Acorns app? It's basically an investing app that connects to your bank account and rounds your purchases up and invests the "spare change" for you. A friend referred me and it was a free $5 bonus, so I signed up for it a few weeks ago.

I'm torn on it, though. I'm had it for about 3 weeks and I already have $31 in my account, mostly from round ups, which is great because I wouldn't have invested or saved that money if it wasn't automatic. But they also charge a $1/month fee for using it. Which isn't much, but I've read reviews that say it's quite a big percentage unless you can keep a certain amount of money in it every month. I'm wondering if I would be better off finding the average amount of weekly round ups and setting up an automatic deposit into a high yield savings account every week instead.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

Does anyone have any experience with the Acorns app? It's basically an investing app that connects to your bank account and rounds your purchases up and invests the "spare change" for you. A friend referred me and it was a free $5 bonus, so I signed up for it a few weeks ago.

I'm torn on it, though. I'm had it for about 3 weeks and I already have $31 in my account, mostly from round ups, which is great because I wouldn't have invested or saved that money if it wasn't automatic. But they also charge a $1/month fee for using it. Which isn't much, but I've read reviews that say it's quite a big percentage unless you can keep a certain amount of money in it every month. I'm wondering if I would be better off finding the average amount of weekly round ups and setting up an automatic deposit into a high yield savings account every week instead.

I would just pick an amount you want to save each week and have it automatically deposited into a high yield savings for free. Why pay for someone to do this for you?

 

[Aurora_Australis]

Finally got around to reconciling my last remaining cc statement for January, started at $2700 and down to $926 at the end of the month, even with DH getting just over $100 pay in the last fortnight due to holiday shutdown. Which is great because I can take it back to $0 when I get paid today and then put our DL tickets on and pay them off in the interest free days.

 

[Ngwira]

View attachment 218962 We are on our way back home from GWL. We had a FABULOUS time but I spent over the allotted amount I had set aside. We dove into our savings (about $80). This won't make or break us this month, but still..
Even with snacks and packing breakfast, I underestimated how hungry the kids would be so a large chunk was spent on food. But we also splurged at the arcade and on ice cream. And we may have stopped and ate "linner" on the way home. (That is a lunch/dinner combo.) And we might have gotten a huge dessert to share that was $10!

So, this little vacation cost us closer to $400 than the alloted $300 but I think it was worth it because we had a blast!

Now, it is back to the real world and pinching pennies..

Your kiddos look great! Which GWL location was this? We have an upcoming night at the Poconos location the first week of March. I booked it last year, so it was $129.00 plus tax. I will budget about $100 for food as we LOVE the breakfast buffet they have and the "wolfie waffles". I'm hoping to come under budget too.

 

[mrsabbott]

Your kiddos look great! Which GWL location was this? We have an upcoming night at the Poconos location the first week of March. I booked it last year, so it was $129.00 plus tax. I will budget about $100 for food as we LOVE the breakfast buffet they have and the "wolfie waffles". I'm hoping to come under budget too.

Thank you! This one is in Mason, OH. We did a Groupon deal and it was under $200 for the six of us in a family suite. We didn't do the breakfast buffet but Hubs hinted that he would like to try it next time.

 

[Ngwira]

Thank you! This one is in Mason, OH. We did a Groupon deal and it was under $200 for the six of us in a family suite. We didn't do the breakfast buffet but Hubs hinted that he would like to try it next time.

There is a current Groupon deal now for all GWL locations. If you use code "SPRING", you get an extra 10 percent off. Dates into April. Would your hubby let you return so soon? LOL

 

[amalone1013]

Just sitting here, waiting (im)patiently for my loan payment to go through and see if I owe another 12 cents to pay it off after the payment processes, due to the time it's taking...

@LisaSunshine, I would second Jen's opinion, I looked into Acorn's a little bit, but that fee turned me off. I just send a chunk of my paycheck to my savings account every two weeks, which I set up with my workplace. I use Ally bank, which I think is 1% savings.

 

[fallonkendra]

So, we sat down and looked at our wedding budget, and set up a plan for the year. We know we don't have enough saved to fully pay off the wedding, but we're planning on one major expense each month between now and then - for example, we will need to give Disney their deposit in April, so that's our "major" for the month. We're hoping to get our hotel for our entire wedding/honeymoon trip booked this month, and since we're renting DVC it will be fully paid for upfront (and I have just about enough in my savings account already to pay that charge off immediately). In March, we need to pay for our photographer's hotel for a few nights and give her a deposit (even though she's a friend, is giving us an incredible deal on our photography and told us she isn't worried about when she gets our deposit - I'd just like to pay her sooner than later) and I'd like to buy my dress (but I plan on saving $$ there, the dress isn't that important to me).

Since we know how much we're going to spend on our wedding trip, we've agreed to keep the rest of this year fairly low-key. We tend to go to a lot of concerts, but we've decided to cut way back - only go to the ones we've already bought the tickets for, or if it's one of our absolute favourites (my fav musician hasn't come to this city since 2010, so I'll find the money to go if he shows up this year!), or someone left on our bucket list (which isn't many, and isn't likely to happen). We figure with ticket costs, parking costs and buying band merchandise, this will save us a few thousand over the year. In order to not be bored, we're going to try and finish the details in our house. We bought a house almost 2 years ago, and still have boxes unpacked in the basement and lots of empty wall space where I want to hang pictures. We have unused Ikea gift cards, so we'll be making a trip to pick up some things so I can finally finish decorating/organizing.

We're definitely not going to come ahead this year, but we shouldn't sink too much farther into debt either - and we're having the wedding that will make both of us happy

 

[mrsabbott]

There is a current Groupon deal now for all GWL locations. If you use code "SPRING", you get an extra 10 percent off. Dates into April. Would your hubby let you return so soon? LOL

I saw that!! I also saw one for a place in Myrtle Beach.. Sadly, we won't be doing anything else until July. We will go camping at Jellystone! We will probably try to go again next year. The kids like going and it makes a perfect Christmas gift! I like spending money on experiences instead of stuff. I hope to one day spend more money on experiences for the family... once I get this debt paid off!!

 

[dayvewc]

Does anyone have any experience with the Acorns app? It's basically an investing app that connects to your bank account and rounds your purchases up and invests the "spare change" for you. A friend referred me and it was a free $5 bonus, so I signed up for it a few weeks ago.

I'm torn on it, though. I'm had it for about 3 weeks and I already have $31 in my account, mostly from round ups, which is great because I wouldn't have invested or saved that money if it wasn't automatic. But they also charge a $1/month fee for using it. Which isn't much, but I've read reviews that say it's quite a big percentage unless you can keep a certain amount of money in it every month. I'm wondering if I would be better off finding the average amount of weekly round ups and setting up an automatic deposit into a high yield savings account every week instead.

I've used Acorns for almost 2 years now. I don't like the $1 fee either, but I did like that accessing the money was a couple of extra steps, so not something I can do on a whim. Unlike my savings account. It took me just over a year to hit about $500, and at that point I was "making" more from the interest than the $1 fee, so .... to me has been worth it to keep. If you are more disciplined about not dipping into savings, then I'd recommend to go that route. But if you are like me and get antsy in those days before payday when the checking account is sitting at $25 and you know you've got the extra over in savings, so it won't hurt to just move a little bit over "just in case" .... and then never pay it back, Acorns works great for me.

On a different topic ... I started clipping coupons this week. First store visit, I got $55 off my bill, brought it down to $212. The good news it I only bought stuff that I know will be used. The bad news is a lot of it was stuff I already kind of had stockpiled (pretty sure I have enough laundry detergent to last me at least a year, and maybe 18 months at this point). So, I'm not entirely sure if I really saved money or not. The person who helped me set up and figure out what to do explained it from the perspective of "only buy things you know you will use, but buy them when you have coupons, you can get double or triple credit, when it is on sale or all of the above if possible. With the idea that you stock up when you can get it cheaper so you don't have to buy it when it is more expensive. The theory is that everything will come on sale every 3 months, so get enough to last until you can get the good deals again."

All of which I understand, but there is a part of me that says "when I buy it when I don't need it, then I've spent money I wouldn't normally spend, so even if I saved some money, I spent more." I'm going to try to give it about 4 months and then see if my overall budget average is less than it was before. Here's hoping it is!!

 

[amalone1013]

So, we sat down and looked at our wedding budget, and set up a plan for the year. We know we don't have enough saved to fully pay off the wedding, but we're planning on one major expense each month between now and then - for example, we will need to give Disney their deposit in April, so that's our "major" for the month. We're hoping to get our hotel for our entire wedding/nowhere trip booked this month, and since we're renting DVC it will be fully paid for upfront (and I have just about enough in my savings account already to pay that charge off immediately). In March, we need to pay for our photographer's hotel for a few nights and give her a deposit (even though she's a friend, is giving us an incredible deal on our photography and told us she isn't worried about when she gets our deposit - I'd just like to pay her sooner than later) and I'd like to buy my dress (but I plan on saving $$ there, the dress isn't that important to me).

Since we know how much we're going to spend on our wedding trip, we've agreed to keep the rest of this year fairly low-key. We tend to go to a lot of concerts, but we've decided to cut way back - only go to the ones we've already bought the tickets for, or if it's one of our absolute favourites (my fav musician hasn't come to this city since 2010, so I'll find the money to go if he shows up this year!), or someone left on our bucket list (which isn't many, and isn't likely to happen). We figure with ticket costs, parking costs and buying band merchandise, this will save us a few thousand over the year. In order to not be bored, we're going to try and finish the details in our house. We bought a house almost 2 years ago, and still have boxes unpacked in the basement and lots of empty wall space where I want to hang pictures. We have unused Ikea gift cards, so we'll be making a trip to pick up some things so I can finally finish decorating/organizing.

We're definitely not going to come ahead this year, but we shouldn't sink too much farther into debt either - and we're having the wedding that will make both of us happy

Sounds like you have a plan! So exciting! Have you found the Passporter book and the Facebook group? People in the group Are super helpful. We're going for 2.5 weeks in September for our wedding and Honeymoon trip. We're doing a Escape style ceremony off site because worked better for our budget, lunch after at Disney Springs, and an Epcot dessert party.

 

[Shmily1]

I've used Acorns for almost 2 years now. I don't like the $1 fee either, but I did like that accessing the money was a couple of extra steps, so not something I can do on a whim. Unlike my savings account. It took me just over a year to hit about $500, and at that point I was "making" more from the interest than the $1 fee, so .... to me has been worth it to keep. If you are more disciplined about not dipping into savings, then I'd recommend to go that route. But if you are like me and get antsy in those days before payday when the checking account is sitting at $25 and you know you've got the extra over in savings, so it won't hurt to just move a little bit over "just in case" .... and then never pay it back, Acorns works great for me.

On a different topic ... I started clipping coupons this week. First store visit, I got $55 off my bill, brought it down to $212. The good news it I only bought stuff that I know will be used. The bad news is a lot of it was stuff I already kind of had stockpiled (pretty sure I have enough laundry detergent to last me at least a year, and maybe 18 months at this point). So, I'm not entirely sure if I really saved money or not. The person who helped me set up and figure out what to do explained it from the perspective of "only buy things you know you will use, but buy them when you have coupons, you can get double or triple credit, when it is on sale or all of the above if possible. With the idea that you stock up when you can get it cheaper so you don't have to buy it when it is more expensive. The theory is that everything will come on sale every 3 months, so get enough to last until you can get the good deals again."

All of which I understand, but there is a part of me that says "when I buy it when I don't need it, then I've spent money I wouldn't normally spend, so even if I saved some money, I spent more." I'm going to try to give it about 4 months and then see if my overall budget average is less than it was before. Here's hoping it is!!

I did that for a while and need to get back to it. I had stockpiled detergent and personal care items like shampoo, toothpaste, etc and I still think it helped me save money. I did my best shopping at CVS and then some at Walgreen's.

 

[DisneyMandC]

On a different topic ... I started clipping coupons this week. First store visit, I got $55 off my bill, brought it down to $212. The good news it I only bought stuff that I know will be used. The bad news is a lot of it was stuff I already kind of had stockpiled (pretty sure I have enough laundry detergent to last me at least a year, and maybe 18 months at this point). So, I'm not entirely sure if I really saved money or not. The person who helped me set up and figure out what to do explained it from the perspective of "only buy things you know you will use, but buy them when you have coupons, you can get double or triple credit, when it is on sale or all of the above if possible. With the idea that you stock up when you can get it cheaper so you don't have to buy it when it is more expensive. The theory is that everything will come on sale every 3 months, so get enough to last until you can get the good deals again."

All of which I understand, but there is a part of me that says "when I buy it when I don't need it, then I've spent money I wouldn't normally spend, so even if I saved some money, I spent more." I'm going to try to give it about 4 months and then see if my overall budget average is less than it was before. Here's hoping it is!!

I do this as well. It seems counterintuitive at first when you're trying to save money and it seems like you're blowing a ton all at once, but it really does help in the long term. I routinely keep a year's worth of laundry detergent, dish detergent, toothpaste, shampoo, and soap in my house. I usually pay about $2/bottle for Tide or Gain laundry detergent, and everything else usually comes down to under a dollar, and usually free for toothpaste. As your friend said, the way you make it work is look for your "stock-up price" and buy enough then to last you. So whenever I see Kroger put Gain on the lowest sale price and I have the $2/bottle coupons, I buy as many as I have coupons for then.

You don't have to go crazy like you may have seen on that show Extreme Couponing (which is not factual AT ALL), but it does help! I routinely get at least 30% off my bill at the grocery store.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

I did that for a while and need to get back to it. I had stockpiled detergent and personal care items like shampoo, toothpaste, etc and I still think it helped me save money. I did my best shopping at CVS and then some at Walgreen's.

If you have an 18 month supply of something, I think it is fine to stop purchasing that item for a while. DH and I use coupons combined with sales to stock up. Personal care items are especially easy to do this way. I have at least a year's worth of shampoo, conditioner and deodorant in my cabinet. DH might need some deodorant soon, but he has enough to make it to the next big sale. But since I have such a large reserve, I can be more choosy with when I shop for those items. I have price points that I try to get at or under. For example, with my shampoo/conditioner, I like to wait until I have at least a 4x $1 off coupons plus Target is running a buy 4, get a $5 gift card. That gets me $9 off 4 bottles, which means they cost about $0.70 per bottle with tax and Redcard discount. It is a huge money saver. I find some of my very best deals at Target. I love that place.

For example, a recent deal: On Sunday, as a one day only Super Bowl sale, Target had DiGiorno pizza 25% off with the Cartwheel app. I had two coupons that were buy 2, get 1 free. The pizzas are normally 4.99, but were discounted to $3.74 each and I got two free, so 6 pizzas cost me $2.52 each after tax and Redcard discount.

But again, I only buy what we will actually eat. Since we don't eat a whole lot of processed, prepackaged foods, we often can't use coupons. But luckily, Kroger is great about mailing us produce coupons. I love that.

 

[Dentam]

Target often has personal care items on clearance, so I also have a good stockpile of toothpaste, shampoo, face wash, etc.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

Another money saver that I just thought to mention. You know how many hotels have gone to the shampoo/conditioners dispensers? Well, DH and I got sick of our shower caddy falling down in our master bath all the time and then having bottles all over the floor. So we decided to get some dispensers instead. It keeps our shower so much cleaner but it also has had the side effect that I use less shampoo/conditioner. When I used to squeeze it out of a bottle, it was very inexact and I would end up squeezing out more than I needed. Now I use the exact same number of pumps from the dispenser each day, only exactly what I need. So my large supply of shampoo/conditioner lasts so much longer now. I highly recommend it!

 

[fallonkendra]

Sounds like you have a plan! So exciting! Have you found the Passporter book and the Facebook group? People in the group Are super helpful. We're going for 2.5 weeks in September for our wedding and Honeymoon trip. We're doing a Escape style ceremony off site because worked better for our budget, lunch sheet at Disney Springs, and an Epcot dessert party.

I actually haven't bought the Passporter book or found the Facebook group yet... What's the name of the Facebook Group?

I had started reading your wedding planning report at one point, I need to get back to it and get all caught up again!

Yeah, we'll be doing an Escape wedding with Disney, then our reception at Disney Springs and hopefully a dessert party as well!

 

[LisaSunshine]

I would just pick an amount you want to save each week and have it automatically deposited into a high yield savings for free. Why pay for someone to do this for you?

This was my thought as well. It's been useful, but we can do pretty much the same thing ourselves without the fee.

I've used Acorns for almost 2 years now. I don't like the $1 fee either, but I did like that accessing the money was a couple of extra steps, so not something I can do on a whim. Unlike my savings account. It took me just over a year to hit about $500, and at that point I was "making" more from the interest than the $1 fee, so .... to me has been worth it to keep. If you are more disciplined about not dipping into savings, then I'd recommend to go that route. But if you are like me and get antsy in those days before payday when the checking account is sitting at $25 and you know you've got the extra over in savings, so it won't hurt to just move a little bit over "just in case" .... and then never pay it back, Acorns works great for me.

On a different topic ... I started clipping coupons this week. First store visit, I got $55 off my bill, brought it down to $212. The good news it I only bought stuff that I know will be used. The bad news is a lot of it was stuff I already kind of had stockpiled (pretty sure I have enough laundry detergent to last me at least a year, and maybe 18 months at this point). So, I'm not entirely sure if I really saved money or not. The person who helped me set up and figure out what to do explained it from the perspective of "only buy things you know you will use, but buy them when you have coupons, you can get double or triple credit, when it is on sale or all of the above if possible. With the idea that you stock up when you can get it cheaper so you don't have to buy it when it is more expensive. The theory is that everything will come on sale every 3 months, so get enough to last until you can get the good deals again."

All of which I understand, but there is a part of me that says "when I buy it when I don't need it, then I've spent money I wouldn't normally spend, so even if I saved some money, I spent more." I'm going to try to give it about 4 months and then see if my overall budget average is less than it was before. Here's hoping it is!!

I'm glad to hear it's worked for you! And the fact that it's harder to touch the money is a great point. I've definitely been down the "borrowing" from savings road many times. We may try a savings account separate from our usual bank to see if that helps.

 

[amalone1013]

Just for fun/motivation...

2017 starting balances:
Student Loans - $12560 + $2075+ $12685 = $27,320
Car Loans - $22034 + $18100 = $40,134
Net Worth - $21213 +2321 $ = +$23,534

Balances as of 2/8/17:
Student Loans - $10280 + $1052+ $9875 = $21,207 - $6113 change
Car Loans - $21584 + $17389 = $38,973 - $1161 change
Net Worth - $25519 + $2660 = +$28,179 - $4645 change

The net worth change is mainly 401ks, HSA, and saving goals (wedding, honeymoon, house)... it'll be a bit sad to spend most of that in large chunks.

I actually haven't bought the Passporter book or found the Facebook group yet... What's the name of the Facebook Group?

I had started reading your wedding planning report at one point, I need to get back to it and get all caught up again!

Yeah, we'll be doing an Escape wedding with Disney, then our reception at Disney Springs and hopefully a dessert party as well!

I need to go update my PJ, I haven't been on it for a bit... I'm going dress shopping Saturday though - it just so happens that the only place carrying a line I liked (and in budget) is having a trunk show this weekend, so fingers crossed they'll run a special Our 4 day trip to WDW two weeks ago was to see everything in person, since we've never been to Orlando. The Facebook group is Disbrides on Disney Brides Diary. You'll have to request to join. I got the digital version of Passporter when I was comparing, and you can redownload it for free if it gets updated.

 

[NinaBella]

Thank you! This one is in Mason, OH. We did a Groupon deal and it was under $200 for the six of us in a family suite. We didn't do the breakfast buffet but Hubs hinted that he would like to try it next time.

GWL gives 20% military discounts on rooms.

Also they have random 25% off flash sales they run for 24-hours throughout the year so subscribe to thier emails.